News Byte: Twitter Rolls Out Targeted Ad Service

Twitter announced a system-wide rollout of its tailored audiences service, expanding marketers' reach for targeted messaging to Twitter's 218 million subscribers.

The service allows advertisers to call upon behavioral data to deliver targeted, real-time messaging to prospects and customers via promoted tweets. A blog published on the Twitter site today uses the example of a vacation shopper visiting the site of a Hawaiian hotel. The chain that owns the hotel can inform Twitter to include that user in its Hawaiian hotel audience, and that prospect will receive promoted tweets with offers for room packages.

Marketers can also bring third-party customer data to bear to target tweets using the services of Blue Kai, which partners with Twitter on tailored audiences. “Our clients can target people who are on the web shopping for a new car and we can transfer that information to Twitter that day to push out tweets,” says Blue Kai Chief Product Officer Alex Hooshmand. “We can also get back to clients with analytics profiling the people who engaged with their native ads.”